Being a high school student is hard. You have grades to worry about, projects, tests, friends, etc. Some of us decided to add a job into the equation; that is a really hard task. Some students tend to struggle with having a job and keeping their grades up at the same time because time management can be hard. 

“I wouldn’t say I necessarily struggle in school but sometimes I end up in a rush with schoolwork because I get super caught up and suck at time management,” said Candace Cross, a junior at Rocky Mountain who holds a job.   

Not only can that be the hard part, but sometimes students can also be stuck staying up late at night doing schoolwork because they had work that night. Students should be getting at least 8 hours of sleep per night, but the majority are not. 

“I usually get about 5-6 hours per night and yes, it tends to be caused by schoolwork,” said Hannah, a junior at Rocky.  

Another thing that can end up happening is falling behind on work because students can be so caught up in work and friends. 

Skylar Lind, a senior at Rocky, said, “I’m behind on everything, I usually turn everything right before the quarter ends.” 

So the million dollar question here would be: “How do I balance having a job and friends, but keep my grades up?”

There are multiple ways that you can keep your grades up and be busy with work and friends; it just takes some sort of motivation.

One thing that really helps is having a flexible manager. If your manager can be flexible with the days that you work, then you may be able to take some time off in order to catch up on school work, or only work certain days and reserve the days you’re off to making sure that your schoolwork gets done.  

 “I would say my manager is very flexible, she doesn’t care if we don’t come into work as long as the shift is covered and theres enough people on the floor,” Candace Cross said. 

Another thing that can really help is making sure you get at least an hour of studying in a day. This can help with many things, as well as just a basic understanding of the class.  

“I try and get an hour of studying in,” Skylar Lind said. 

There are plenty of ways to get a simple balance in school and work, it really just depends on you and how you learn however maybe trying these two things could help if theres no other choices or ideas.